'Twisted' Christmas song still pays the rent for onetime Ocala veterinarian

Wednesday

Dec 18, 2013 at 2:33 PM

Dr. Elmo Shropshire, a 1955 Ocala High School graduate, says his signature song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is more about proving Santa exists than Grandma succumbing to a hit-and-run reindeer.

By Andy FillmoreCorrespondent

Dr. Elmo Shropshire, a 1955 Ocala High School graduate, says his signature song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is more about proving Santa exists than Grandma succumbing to a hit-and-run reindeer.The veterinarian turned musician and music video producer has spent 35 years securing the loved and loathed ditty, the one he proclaims "pays the rent," as a Christmas staple."I always felt the song was irrefutable proof that Santa does exist," said Shropshire, 76, in a phone interview from his home in Novato, Calif.The lyrics do include a reference to evidence — a set of reindeer tracks — found on the victim, but it also contains the words "as for me and Grandpa we believe."Shropshire was born in Kentucky and moved to the Ocala area in 1952 with his family when he was 14."My dad was a manager with Dickey Stables in Ocala. There were very few riders in the area. Manny Tattora and I were riders for the stables," Shropshire said."Needles was born at Dickey Stables. I was a groom and exercise boy, and rode Needles as a yearling in 1954 and for a short while as a 2-year-old in 1955. He won the Derby and Belmont in 1956," Shropshire said. "They called him Needles because of all the injections the horse had when he was sick."According to an August 2000 Blood Horse magazine article on the Bonnie Heath Farm website, Needles, owned by Jackson Dudley and Bonnie Heath, won the 1956 Kentucky Derby, "the first Florida bred horse" to do so.Following OHS graduation, Shropshire headed to the University of Florida to study veterinarian medicine, with later studies at Auburn. He lost both of his parents in an automobile crash in 1959 in South Florida when he was 21."After my parents died, the Curry home in Ocala was my home base until I graduated from Auburn in 1964. I worked for a short time in Miami, then in New York at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga race tracks in '66 and '67. I moved to California in 1968," Shropshire said.At age 35, he developed an interest in bluegrass music and learned to play banjo, performing mostly among friends and at local clubs. One night in 1979, his friend Randy Brooks came in with a tape recording of a song he wanted Shropshire to play. That song was "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.""It seemed to have all the trappings of Christmas and the warmth, but kind of twisted," said Shropshire, who added that he has sort of a "satirical" sense of humor.Soon, Shropshire was promoting the tape he made performing the song to local radio station KFOR. The management promised to play the tape if they could get 50 requests for the new offbeat song.Shropshire remembered driving along hearing the first few callers, then a long pause, and then the required number was hit.It looked like the song was beginning to get some limited attention when a break came for Shropshire."We were to play at a club called The Boarding House, the same place where comedian Steve Martin played (bluegrass). A big crowd showed up to picket against the song, calling it ageist, sexist and violent," Shropshire said. The attention put a spotlight on the song."They were Grey Panthers," Shropshire said of the picketers.Shropshire said that was the start of quantity "pressing of vinyl records," first with 500 copies."In 1983 I sold my (veterinarian) hospital and invested $30,000 in a music video, which was done in my home. We converted the house to a production studio. The video was shown on MTV. On Dec. 24, 1983 ‘Grandma' was ahead of ‘White Christmas' for No. 1 on the Billboard chart," he said.The song was picked up by Epic Records in 1984 and "outsold ‘Thriller' in December of 1984."Shropshire made later videos, even disguised as Grandma, and has recorded several additional CDs including "Yule Jewels," a compilation of novelty songs such as "Uncle Johnny's Glass Eye" and "Grandma's Spending Christmas with the Superstars."In 1993, Shropshire took Grandma on the road with a show built around Bobby Helms and his "Jingle Bell Rock." Shropshire went on tours in later years with artists including Peter Frampton and Pat Benatar."I performed in 2004 in front of 16,000 at the ARCO Arena with Hillary Duff and others. I got up there with my acoustical (guitar) and the crowd responded when I got to the part about should we keep Grandma's Christmas gifts or send them back," he laughed.He said his fellow performers took the song in good fun and he was well accepted by the other artists.Shropshire played a concert in Dallas this month to benefit the "Snowball Express," a group that helps the children of military veterans.Lanny Curry of Ocala, a 1952 Ocala High School graduate, now with the law firm Ayres Cluster Curry McCall Collins & Fuller PA of Ocala, was in the Navy most of the time Shropshire lived with his family following the loss of his parents."Elmo lived with my family for a couple of years; he was like the fourth brother," Curry said.Curry described the singer as a quick wit and a "ladies man.""He gave us unfair competition with the girls in high school. They loved to mother him, and he could even type about 125 words per minute," Curry said with a laugh."Elmo has visited and played at reunions here virtually every year, sometimes unexpected," Curry added.Curry also said that Shropshire, who lives in Navato with his wife, Pam Wendell, has run in the Boston and New York marathons and recently won a gold medal for the U.S. in the World Senior Games in Brazil.As Shropshire continues to perform his music after all these years, there still is one aspect of the recording industry that fascinates him: "Whenever I sing to someone in person or on the phone, they almost always say, ‘You sound just like that guy on the radio.' "

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.